If an individual made a phenomenal play in hockey and you cited that as clear proof that he was Canadian it could be seen as a slam an Americans.

Canadians and Americans are not the only nations that play hockey. How is it then not also a slam against Russians?

I'm assuming we are talking about a similar scenario where he'd be in the midst of Americans. If it were when he was in the midst of Russians and the claim was made then yes, it could be seen as a jab at Russians.

As far as Canadians being overly polite or pverly apologetic I don't see how that is apt since he wasn't being overly polite or apologetic in any way.

Ok, this is getting ugly so I'm wading back in. What I really meant was wow, a Canadian actually did something newsworthy, and a good thing at that. Usually we're so bloody boring that we never make the news for anything. I mean, the only other big Canadian news stories are the Bieb's hair and Pamela's implants. It's been an exciting week here as two students managed to launch a lego man into space and it's the LEGO MAN that's getting most of the attention.

I certainly don't think Canadians are the most polite people ever, nor was it any comment on the relative politeness of any group relative to another. I do think Canadians are getting a good bit less polite actually. Canadians may take the award for being the most apologetic group out there. It doesn't take much to get them to say sorry about just about anything. I can get my own brother to apologize for it being cloudy outside within 60 seconds of meeting up with him.